North-South Roads

Highway 427, from Finch Avenue West, south to Eglinton Avenue West, forms part of Etobicoke’s western boundary with Peel Region. Its predecessor until the early 1980s was a much smaller road called Indian Line that followed the same route. The Indian Line was a survey line drawn by Alexander Aitkin in 1788 from the mouth of Etobicoke Creek north 22 degrees west, intended to define the western boundary of the 1787 Toronto Purchase from the Mississauga First Nation. Although that treaty was flawed and had to be re-executed in 1805, Indian Line became the boundary north of Eglinton to Steeles. A road developed along its route, named after the survey line. North of Finch, and accessible on foot only, a short piece of the former Indian Line road remains, adjacent to the Claireville Dam and Conservation Area.

Carlingview Drive was named for the former Carling O'Keefe brewery (now Molson Canada) located at its south end. The road was originally the Fourth Concession. Other pieces of this concession road that remain are on Renforth Drive (name origin unknown) and Humberline Drive (named for the nearby West Humber River.)

Third Concession was the next concession road to the east. Today, this concession is known by three names:

Highway 27 from Steeles Avenue West to Highway 401.

Highway 427 from Highway 401 to Evans Avenue.

Browns Line from Evans Avenue to Lake Shore Blvd. West. Joseph and Mary Brown immigrated to Canada from Yorkshire, England and in 1839 purchased 100-acre Lot 11, Concession III South Division, just north of what is now Evans Avenue. A track leading to their farm was called "Brown's Line."

Martin Grove Road was originally the Second Concession. Ca. 1950 it was renamed Martin Grove Road, although the origin of this name is unknown. It has been suggested that it is named after the fruit grove of a local resident named Martin, but his exact identity and location are unknown. Shaver Avenue, which runs from Glen Park south to Dundas Street West, is actually on the route of the Second Concession as well and is named after Frank Shaver who developed the property. He was a descendant of George Shaver, a United Empire Loyalist who originally purchased that property in 1823.

Kipling Avenue was originally the First Concession. In the 1890s, the south end of the street was named Mimico Avenue, even though there was (and still is) a Mimico Avenue in Mimico. The road received the name Kipling Avenue ca. 1912. Many believe the street was named after English author Rudyard Kipling. Kipling did make trips to Toronto, including one in 1907 where he was allegedly scheduled to open the Woodbridge Fair but was forced to cancel, possibly because of ill health. The story is that the route he would have taken to the fair was up the First Concession, so it was renamed Kipling Avenue even though he never made the trip. Within New Toronto, it was named Eighteenth Street until the 1970s when that section also became Kipling Avenue.

Islington Avenue or Concession A was named for the village it passed at Dundas Street West. The village of Islington was previously called Mimico, and was often confused with a second Etobicoke village with the same name on Lake Ontario. That village had obtained a post office called Mimico in 1857. In 1859, in order to obtain their own post office, residents of the Mimico on Dundas held a meeting to select a new name in Thomas Smith’s Inn, on the southwest corner of Dundas and Islington. When the attendees could not reach agreement, they invited Smith’s wife, Elizabeth, into the meeting and asked her to rename the village. She selected Islington, after her birthplace near London, England.

Royal York Road was originally Concession B, and then called Church Street because of the many churches along its route. In 1929, the Royal York Hotel opened the Royal York Golf Course on the west side of Church Street, north of The Kingsway, as an attraction for its hotel guests. Soon after, Church Street was renamed Royal York Road. In 1946, the hotel’s agreement with the golf course ended, and the golf course was renamed St. George’s Golf and Country Club, with its entrance off Islington Avenue.

Scarlett Road was named for John Scarlett, who moved to Upper Canada from England in 1808 and settled in the Humber River area. By the 1830s, he owned a grist mill, lumber yard, saw mill, planing mill, distillery, lumber store and brick yard. His house, called “Runnymede”, was located north of Dundas Street West, west of Keele Street. By the 1860s, Scarlett and his four sons owned all of the land on both side of the Humber River between Dundas Street and Eglinton Avenue. Three of his sons had houses on the Etobicoke side of the Humber River, north of Edenbridge Drive. John Scarlett opened a road to serve his property, and this road is still called Scarlett Road today.